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Alaskan Blob Is an Algae Bloom
Bryan Gividen writes "Time.com is running a story on the previously unidentified blob floating off of the coast of Alaska. The article states that the blob is an algae bloom — far less sinister (or exciting) than any The Thing or The Blob comparison that was jokingly made. From the article: '"It's sort of like a swimming pool that hasn't been cleaned in a while." The blob, Konar said, is a microalgae made up of 'billions and billions of individuals.'"
Am I the only one who could not help but hear that quote in Carl Sagan's voice?
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It already works as oxygen generator...
Whose turn was it to chlorine the ocean?
For some reason I initially read the headline as "Alaksan Bob", and assumed it was going to be about Sarah Palin's replacement.
Mind you, she probably can see this blob from her house...
Till it dies off .. then we might get another dead zone.
When algal blooms die off, oxygen is used to decompose the algae which creates hypoxic conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)
Ofcourse I didn't RTFA... maybe this isn't a harmfull kind.
It would have been way funnier if it turned out to be whale semen.
Summer's here! The Algae's in bloom and love is in the air! Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Sponge Blob!
These views express my own personal opinions, not those of the other voices in my head
algal blooms. One of the prime symptoms of anthropogenic warming is disproportionate warming at night and at the North and South Poles. We're a smart bunch here at Slashdot, right? (Right?) We can figure out what that means.
Like a previous commenter said, yes, when they die they'll take some of their incorporated carbon down to the sea floor. Along the way, microbes are going to be decomposing it. They use oxygen to do that. If there's enough algae (and this sounds like there is) what that means is that all the fish and everything else that needs oxygen dies in that whole zone. It's like the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is major Not Good.